Will France experience a food shortage? The answer, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, is clear: it's no.
The ex-CEO of E. Leclerc centers, now president of the strategic committee, wanted to reassure consumers who rushed into supermarkets to stock up on Wednesday morning at the microphone of BFMTV. A " healthy family reaction ", but one that is not necessary. In France, " we will have food until the summer, " he smiled. " You may not have your favorite brand of pasta but an empty department is filled two days later, maximum ." " We have a lot of food in France, " he said, while admitting that certain consumer behavior had not been anticipated: " we ran out of toilet paper, paper towel, diapers, " he said. he notably cited. The big bosses of the large distribution follow one another, for a week, to repeat that France would not run any food risk. The only product whose risk of shortage is real is hydroalcoholic gel, according to the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD).
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The fear of the coronavirus has literally transformed the behavior of certain consumers: " there have been stock-outs, everyone has rushed as if people had known the war when for the majority, it is not the case. They threw themselves on pasta, rice, dry groceries, canned goods and even ready meals. And this when we often say that they are not good for health ”, specifies Michel-Edouard Leclerc. What to beat the fundamental trends in consumption, namely a healthy and organic shift? The sector is growing by 20 to 25% per year on average, but the rush in stores that the coronavirus has led has rather benefited conventional consumer products.
Other reflexes have however developed among consumers. Drive services have seen a 40 to 70% increase in demand, depending on the brand, since the start of the health crisis. The explosion in online sales leads, again, to stock shortages: "a few people, sometimes, ordered 50 cans, there we said no, we limited ", for example explained the CEO of Système U , Dominique Schlecher, earlier this week.
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The Minister of the Economy called consumers to temperance last week, advising them not to rush into shopping centers and not to create an artificial shortage. A message that is hardly audible to some consumers, who fear isolation and quarantine measures. Parisian brands would be the most affected: " in our provinces, there is not such feverish behavior ," observed Michel-Edouard Leclerc.
